Allan; you didn't say what type of welder you have. If it's the lincoln tombstone it's an AC welder. 6011 rod will weld very nicely on this machine or any machine or polarity but 7018 is a DC reverse polarity rod and won't weld worth a crap. You can buy 7018 that will run on straight polarity and a DC machine. If your rod boxes are unopened and not rusted thru the rods are probably alright!

Originally posted by Todd Nelson .if you want to keep your rods fresh keep them in a warm, dry environment, like an old frig(with a light bulb on inside) or maybe in the corner of an annealer. You could take them out the day b/4 you need them and they won't have soaked up all that humidity!

Along those lines, you could add one of these to the storage space. The 900-gram unit handles 66 cubic feet.

I have a Miller 130 (?) or 135 and I love it. It's easy to use with the gas and I get clean penetrating welds every time. It's really only good to about 3/16" for mild steel and I've never tried Stainless, but I'm told it'll do that, too.

I've built an entire hot shop with this little guy and he keeps going. If you're not going for portability, which was of concern to me, I'd go with a 220 unit though.

I am glad Todd weighed in on the numbers of Sticks. Too often we think we can do something properly just because it happens to work. I have always been an advocate of taking a class at a community college. I was able to take Stick welding and a TIG MIG class for $95 each from professional welders. You will learn what all those stick numbers mean, what the uses for DC - /DC+/ AC are really for. Most of you probably set your welder on one of them and leave it forever not knowing which one will really do a better job. One of these settings will give you better penetration. Go find out. You will be the better for it.

Before any of you say I do just fine and welding isn't that hard and my equipment is built tough, I want to say that welding is a pretty easy thing to just get the hang of, but for the cheap price of a CC class you will learn it right and it will be better. You will get more out of your $100 Welding class than you will out of a $1000+ summer glass class.

Live in the swamplands; we save ours by putting them in a open soup can on top of a running day tank, or pipe warmer.
Ab
Does anybody have any experience with this machine: Delta 20-330 5" X 6" Horizontal Band Saw with Blade.... and it's cheap.http://www.toolking.com/delta/view.asp?id=3182

You can get a very similar saw at Enco for $197.95+S&H actually it is on sale for $169.95. Or a similar saw at Grizzy Industrial for $287 S&H included. Harbour Freight has one listed for $169. McMaster-Carr has one listed for 271.95+S&H. These tool suppliers, even Delta, buy their tools from the same factories in Asia and we end up paying $100 extra dollars for a name brand sticker and special paint. Some tool suppliers will offer 3 identical tools but made in 3 different factories: China, Taiwan and North America, I came across this when I was shopping for a stomp shear. The Chinese Tool is the lowest priced and least reliable, Taiwan is better quality and a little more expensive, workmanship is increased i a place where one can be publically "caned" for vandalism. The tools in the made in the USA or Canada are twice as expensive and are sometimes the most reliable. If you do inquire where things were made, remember, "Made in the USA" and "Assembled in the USA" are two different things.

The Delta Model pictured on Toolking is okay. Depending on what you are cutting it can be loud and the blades often don't track straight when cutting several itmes at once. The other down side is the lack of a lube/coolant system and the belt drive can slip. It will be more accurate, smell better, safer and much more healthy to be around than an abrasive cut off saw.

what about a cold cut carbide saw? They are much faster than a bandsaw and much quieter than an abrasive saw and they have a stiff blade so the angles stay sharp (when you miter). I have been amazed by ours though the blades are expensive and don't cut stainless (knocks the teeth off). It cuts solid 1.5" as easy as our old cutoff abrasive cut 1/4" angle.

I wouldn't own a stick welder. M.I.G. simply has greater flexibility and consistency. It is akin to going from a manual typewriter to a computer. I used to stick weld and I would never go back. I was in sculpture for ten years before I got side-swiped by glass. I would not get flux core but go with the gas unit. When I did stick weld, we used jet rod, the numbers for which I forget now, it has been so long ago.

For most welding around the hot shop you are not going to need a huge unit. I have a Lincoln SP-125 Plus, and it gives me all the penetration I need. You need to look closely at the specs and get a unit that is going to give you the penetration you think you are going to need and then get that. In eight years I have never once been in a situation where I was scratching my head and wishing I bought something heavier. I would buy from a welding shop with a fixed position in the physical universe.

Gas cutting in a ferrous situation is fine if you are making elaborate cuts, but most of my cuts are straight. But cutting is not welding, which is actually brazing, another animal, and one I would not use when I am joining ferrous with a MIG. I use a chop saw but wish I could get a well built band saw. The difference in the quality of the cut is noticable, but the chop saw I have is passable, and the price is right.

This will sound absolutely crazy but I have the $189.00 harbor freight bandsaw and it works great.

You need to understand how to adjust the followers and rollers along with blade tension and tracking, but once that is accomplished it works great.

One point that people never get is that new bandsaw blades need to be "broken in".

You can do this by keeping a piece of 2"-3" round stock maybe 6"-8" long handy. When you get a new blade slowly lower the blade into the cut until more than an inch of blade is engaged in the cut. After you cut a slice off of your round store it until next time.

During my machine shop days we kept a piece of 6" cold rolled for this and just sliced off a 1/8 inch wafer every time.

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